At least four British cities have expressed an interest in hosting next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, while Ukraine insists that it still wishes to stage the event.
This follows yesterday’s announcement by the European Broadcasting Union that this year’s winners Ukraine, who would normally be next year’s hosts, is not in a position to stage the Contest because of the war.
Following the EBU’s decision to talk to the BBC about holding the event in the UK – this year’s runner-up – four cities so far have expressed themselves willing to play host. They are Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool.
As well as taking part in a bidding process, any city wanting to host the event needs to satisfy certain criteria:
- A venue capable of accommodating 10,000 spectators
- Easy reach of an international airport
- Enough hotel accommodation for at least 2,000 delegates, journalists and spectators
Despite the EBU’s announcement, Ukraine insists it should host next year’s Contest and is calling for negotiations to continue.
In a statement released on Telegram, the country’s culture minister said: “Ukraine does not agree with the nature of such a decision – when we were confronted with the fact without discussion on other options.
“But we strongly believe that we have every reasons to hold further negotiations in order to find a joint solution that will satisfy all parties.
“We honestly won Eurovision and have fulfilled all the conditions within the deadlines for the process approving its holding in Ukraine – we have provided answers and guarantees on safety standards and possible venues for the competition.
“Hosting Eurovision – 2023 in Ukraine is a strong signal to the whole world that it supports Ukraine now.
“We will demand to chance this decision, because we believe that we will be able to fulfil all the commitments, as we have repeatedly emphasised it to the European Broadcasting Union.
“That is why we demand additional negotiations on hosting Eurovision – 2023 in Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s entry Kalush Orchestra won the competition last month in Turin, with an impressive 631 points, and subsequently auctioned their winning trophy to raise money for the Ukrainian army.
The UK’s entry Sam Ryder came second, bringing the UK its best result at the Contest in decades.
The last time the UK won was in 1997 when rock band Katrina and the Waves performed ‘Love Shine a Light’. The country hosted the event the following year in Birmingham in central England.
